As Zika fears escalate, lawmakers point fingers from afar

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Zika virus escalates into a public health crisis, members of Congress remain entrenched politically, with Republicans and Democrats pointing fingers over the failure to act as the number of mosquito-transmitted cases in the U.S. grows.

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell warned lawmakers on Wednesday that her budget for fighting Zika is running out quickly.

Yet lawmakers left Washington in mid-July for a seven-week recess without approving any of the $1.9 billion President Barack Obama requested in February to develop a vaccine and control the mosquitoes that carry the virus.

Republicans angered Democrats by adding a provision to a $1.1 billion take-it-or-leave-it measure that would have blocked Planned Parenthood clinics in Puerto Rico from receiving money.

Burwell's Aug. 3 letter seeks to counter Republicans who've criticized the Obama administration for not using several hundred million dollars already in the federal budget for Zika prevention.

The Centers for Disease Control received the bulk of the $374 million "repurposed" for Zika domestic response efforts, she said, and it will exhaust the remainder of the money by Sept. 30.

[...] he took a jab at McConnell on Tuesday evening, predicting the Senate would move hurriedly if a transmitted Zika case is reported in Kentucky, McConnell's home state.